Apology
by Lady Mear
Summary: Peter never apologised and Edmund drifts further away.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: Not mine, just playing in Lewis' sandbox.

**Respect and Magnificence**

Aslan may have let Edmund off the hook in apologising, but he hadn't let Peter. And even with the opt-out there for him, Edmund had still said it. Peter hadn't. _Try not to wander off again. _Every time he remembered those words, he cringed inside. Could he have been anymore callous? He should have fallen to his knees and begged his brother's forgiveness, not made some off the cuff remark. Edmund seemed to know what he meant to say though; the small smile he returned meant that right? Meant he understood. At least that's what Peter wants to believe, but he makes a promise to himself anyway, that he will say the words after the battle.

Susan knows that Edmund has never held any hope for an apology. He is just glad that Peter had lightened up on him. That he's not the bane of his brother's existence anymore. She watches as he begins to drift away from them. He seems to have forgiven himself for what happened and she wonders again what Aslan said to him. Edmund has always been the kind to brood. That said, he is drifting away, and she doesn't know how to stop it. When she confronts him, he simply shrugs and smiles the same smile he gave Peter at Aslan's camp and tells her he is alright and things are as good as they can get. Susan doesn't believe him.

Lucy doesn't feel burdened by her crown, though she knows Edmund does. Susan delights in hers, gentle and kind to everyone. Peter revels in his, quick to demand, order and rejoice. He has been the centre of every event at Cair Parval since they were crowned. Edmund stays in the shadows. At first, she thinks he still feels guilty, but when she asks Susan, her sister tells her that's not it and admits that she thinks he is just trying to stay out of Peter's way. Lucy frowns, not understanding why anyone would want to avoid her golden brother.

Edmund isn't a bully anymore. He wasn't really one to begin with, just lonely and hurt and confused because no one protected him or helped him that year at the school, or even believed him when he tried to tell them how bad it was. Without Edmund playing the game though, it slowly becomes apparent that Peter _is_ a bully though it isn't as obvious without Edmund setting him off every chance he could get. He still pushes him out of the way, or tells him off for doing something Peter doesn't like, and sends him on pointless errands that easily could be given to a servant and then yells at him if he does send someone else. Edmund just takes it with a small smile and drifts further into the shadows.

They've ruled Narnia for four years when Susan calls Peter on it. Peter just looks confused and tells her that Edmund forgave him his behaviour. He can't find an answer to Susan's next question, when she asks him why he continues with it. He promises to find Edmund and apologise, and then remembers that he never did so after the battle. He had completely forgotten about his promise to himself.

The next time he sees Edmund is at court, and he can't apologise there in front of everyone. Edmund hands him the huge leatherbound tome he carried in with him and explains it contains the The Law of Narnia, the justice system Peter had tasked him with creating when he had first mentioned they needed one to his siblings. Peter doesn't understand why Edmund doesn't want to give it to the people himself. It's his work. But Edmund just smiles and shakes his head and tells Peter it has to come from him. Peter shrugs and accepts it as his due and never enquires further and in the excitement forgets about his promise to himself and Susan. And then he yells at Edmund, in the middle of the court, because Edmund is talking to someone he doesn't like and Edmund bows and smiles that smile again and leaves when Peter tells him to.

Susan and Lucy corner him later and ask the question that Peter wasn't bothered by.

"They won't accept it from me."

"Ed, they love you."

"Yes, but they don't respect me."

Edmund walks away, a shadow drifting by and Susan bites her lip and Lucy looks confused. She's still too young to understand that love doesn't mean respect.

The next day Edmund doesn't some to court and sit on his throne and it's an few hours past midday when Susan realises she can't remember the last time he did and Peter is arguing happily with some ambassador or other over trade routes and gesticulating grandly and Susan can already tell that Peter is making a mess of the trade agreement and she thinks for the first time that Edmund would be the best of them for this kind of diplomacy, but he hasn't been there for a long time. His words come back to her and she wonders in that moment whether Peter would let her make the agreement in his place.

She looks at her magnificent brother as he botches the contract and realises that she may love him, but she doesn't respect him. How can she, when he offers none back?


	2. Chapter 2

Thank you to everyone who reviewed. Disclaimer is in the first chapter**.**

**Justice and Cowardice**

Edmund Pevensie, King Edmund the Just is a coward.

Lucy can't think of it any other way. Edmund can, and does, lead armies into battle. His dark silver and blackened steel armour covered by the wine coloured tabard as well know as Peter's silver-bright steel, gold and crimson. He can stand up to two minotaurs on the warpath over a deal gone sour and willing stands in front of blood-crazed black dwarves. In fact, if it wasn't for one little thing, Lucy would argue that it should be Edmund the Valiant.

That one little thing is their brother. Peter. Edmund simply will not stand up to him. He does whatever he is ordered to with that bloody smile on his face and then slides back into the shadows. It's enough to drive Lucy mad.

Susan sometimes thinks it has driven her mad, as she sits on her throne, Peter on one side and Lucy on the other, completely and totally aware that the forth throne is empty. Edmund stands to one side of the court, watching the supplicants. Every now and then, he approached one and speaks to them. Sometimes they leave together. Sometimes Edmund nods and returns to his spot, or leave the throne room altogether. Susan has her suspicions about what he is doing. She's had them for a while, ever since she watched Peter completely botch a trade agreement, and somehow, miraculously the agreement she signed was nothing like what had been agreed in the court. She had noticed that Edmund signed it first, then the Telmarine diplomat. And she had begun to suspect.

She watches as he leaves with another delegate, and this time she follows, leaving Peter with a frown on his face and Lucy looking confused. If she were Edmund, Peter would have called him back and yelled at him for leaving, but he won't risk that with her. Susan wouldn't stand for it.

She is half way to the door when Lucy catches up with her and they leave together. She leads her younger sibling down the corridor until they come to a small office, one that Edmund claimed not long after they were crowned. Susan bends down, listening at the keyhole and Lucy joins her. Edmund is talking to the delegate about an alliance against the Lone Island pirates. He is calm, controlled and utterly confidant. Susan and Lucy listen for only a moment before they leave, sharing a confused glance and wondering at their brother.

The next day Peter pretty much agrees that the Narnian army would single-handedly deal with the threat while his sisters look on and when they carefully read the document that Edmund prepares at Peter's command, it's nothing like what the High King agreed to. And Susan begins to understand.

Lucy doesn't understand. She wants this strange power thing between Peter and Edmund to end. She wants them to be a team, like they were at the start. Susan remembers Peter's high handed behaviour towards their brother. She remembers the pushes and the cruel words and the never given apology and realised that Edmund can't protect Narnia or his family from his brother's side. He can only offer his protection from the shadows, where Peter will not see. But Lucy is fourteen and she adores her eldest brother and she doesn't understand and when she confronts Edmund, he smiles at her and hugs her, and tells her that this is how it has to be and when she still doesn't understand, he sighs, "Narnia is held together by Peter. He unites everyone, holds us together. Peter must believe himself infallible, because if we tell him the truth, he will fall and Narnia will fall with him."

Lucy still doesn't understand, but Susan agrees with Edmund, so she says nothing to her shining older brother, but in her heart, she thinks they are doing him a great disservice and she believes it's really because Edmund is a coward and is too scared to talk to Peter.


End file.
